The wind was picking up, throwing sand into their faces. Sita glanced back. The storm was gaining, blocking out the sun, barreling toward them with terrifying speed.
“The map!” Karim yelled.
Alarmed, Sita watched the ancient papyrus sail by, the thief chasing after it.
“Leave it!” Sita shouted over the roaring wind. “It’s not worth your life!”
“I can’t! We’ll never find Perset without it!” Karim shouted back. The map dropped to the ground and rolled wildly over the dunes, the thief in hot pursuit.
Sita shook her head and focused on running. The boulders were still so far away, and the storm was nearly upon them.
Sita’s lungs burned with exhaustion. Aya was crying, slowing down, barely able to continue. Behkai galloped at her side but kept looking back, probably torn between staying with her and going to help his master.
We’re not going to make it.
Sita stopped. She squinted into the yellow maelstrom and watched helplessly as it swallowed Karim whole.“No!”Sita screamed in horror, but the storm had grown so loud that it stole her voice and filled her mouth with sand.
He can’t be gone! I just got him back!
There was no time to mourn. They had mere seconds before the storm overtook them. Dropping to her knees, Sita pulled on her hood and shielded Aya’s face with her headscarf. Then she gathered the young girl and the dog into her arms and prayed.
“Hear me, O Isis,” she murmured as the world around them shrieked and turned black, stinging them with a hundred thousand thorns. “Great Mother, goddess of magic, queen of the throne. Hear me and strengthen me with your blood and your spells and your words of power.”
Aya wailed in her arms.
Sita thought of Maet, the girl she couldn’t save, and a thunderous determination overtook her.
Not again!she vowed, her teeth gritted against the howling wind.It will not happen again!
“She will be protected!” Sita screamed.
The storm crashed over them.
5Neff
The embalmer sat at the long table at the back of his workshop in the Temple of Amun, carefully inscribing sacred words onto a roll of linen wrappings. As usual, he wore a simple white tunic, and his hair was a wild nest. His hair was the only feature that separated him from the other priests, who shaved themselves bald in their daily cleansing rituals.
The embalmer, to whom the rules didn’t always apply, had never had the patience for such things.
His hand paused halfway to the inkpot.
“Come in, Nefermaat,” he said without turning. “I can tell from your heavy breathing that you’ve run the entire way here.”
Neff entered the room and sagged against the wall. “How did you know it was me?” Kenna seemed to have an almost supernatural talent for observation.
“It was either you or a very overworked dog,” he said and faced her.
Neff scowled. “Very funny.”
A silence fell between them. Neff toed the ground with her sandal, feeling awkward. The last time they’d seen each other was at the coronation, and they hadn’t spoken. Kenna had been rightfully hurt by Neff’s choice to leave the temple in favor of living at the palace with Meryamun, but she’d tried to give him a sign that there was more to her decision by handing him a small pomegranate. They’d shared one together in the temple gardens the day the prince had offered to be her honorary brother. She thought he’d understood what she was trying to tell him—that she was still loyal to him, still his little sister—but she didn’t know for sure if he’d gotten the message.
Is he still angry at me?
As if reading her mind, the young prince said, “I assume you’ve come to explain why you’d leave your duties at the temple to spend your days ministering to my brother.” He spoke the last word with distaste, with the undercurrent of what Kenna really wanted to call Meryamun: a murderer.
“Yes and no. I don’t have that much time right now, but I promise to tell you everything as soon as I can. I came to ask for your help. I need you to teach me how to practice heka.”
Kenna’s eyebrow lifted. “I heard the priests have been sending you materials. Mery must really trust you if he’s given you access to such forbidden knowledge. You’ve been ordered to use its power for the crown, is that it?”
